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Biggles and the Little Green God/plot
Chapter 1: Not lost but far from home This scene setting chapter has Biggles and Algy crossing the Andes mountain range at high altitude in the Air Police Merlin enroute to Santiago in Chile. Chapter 2: The Air Commodore's tale The story winds back to explain why Biggles is there. Air Commodore Raymond hands Biggles a puzzle. A Cockney named Sam Bates had bought a little oriental green statue for eighty pence from Petticoat Lane. Years later he had it valued and sold it for £12,500. Since that time, the item had been sold and resold, each time for a higher price. Chapter 3: The Air Commodore Concludes The statue, a jade idol with an eye made of a large ruby had recently been sold at auction in London for £75,000 to a wealthy Chilean businessman Don Carlos Ricardo Pallimo. He chartered an aircraft to send it home to Santiago but the plane disappeared enroute to its destination from Buenos Aires. The idol had been insured for £100,000. Naturally, the British government is wary of handing over such a large sum without a proper investigation so the case has been handed to Raymond. Chapter 4: Biggles asks some questions Biggles calls on Don Carlos at his London hotel. The Chilean suspects foul play but doesn't explain why. "Call it intuition," he says. He tells Biggles he had asked one José O'Higgins to be the courier for his parcel. He was "a man of irreproachable character" and happened to be in London wanting to return to Santiago. THen Don Carlos surprises Biggles by telling him that the idol is not oriental as everyone thinks. It is in fact Chilean and is that of an ancient god named Atu-Hua, god of the sierras. Meanwhile, Algy has made enquiries with the Chilean airline operating the aircraft, an eight seater Caravana which had gone astray. There was in fact another passenger on board! He was one Professor Barrendo. He stepped off at Buenos Aires to visit a sick relative. Chapter 5: A thankless assignment Biggles doesn't believe in coincidences, so he goes back to ask Don Carlos if he knew Barrendo was on the plane. Don Carlos looks visibly shaken to hear this but doesn't want to explain why. The most he will say is that he doesn't care if the statue is lost forever, but he is most anxious that no one else should gain possession of it. Again, he declines to explain this puzzling attitude. Summing up with Raymond, Biggles says the loss is no ordinary theft. There's possibly even a political angle behind everything and certainly Don Carlos is not telling the whole truth. Biggles is inclined to drop the whole thing and ask Don Carlos to sort it out himself but he can't let it go like that: there is still the matter of a hundred thousand pounds a British insurance company has to pay. Chapter 6: Biggles makes a call After arriving in Santiago, Biggles and Algy call on Mr Thurburn, a local British contact arranged by Raymond. Thurburn provides valuable background information on the case. He knows Pallimo as an utterly reliable man whom he had done business with before. Jose O'Higgins he only knows by reputation as a quiet man more interested im archaeology than business. Thurburn is more cautious about Barrendo. He describes him as a firebrand and a dangerous man involved in local politics, trying to split the country into two factions, the whites and the Indians. Thurburn is shocked to hear that the item Biggles is seeking is Atu-Hua. He tells Biggles there is a local lore that if Atu-Hua returned to its original name, the Europeans would be forced out of the country. It's presence could forment violence or a revolt. A person who possessed Atu-Hua would have great power over the Indians. Thurburn could understand why Pallimo would be willing for the statue to be lost but didn't want someone else to get his hands on it. By someone else, he most certainly meant Barrendo. Chapter 7: A Warning and a Decision Back at their hotel, Biggles gets an anonymous note warning him to leave the country. Threats don't work with Biggles. He decides to talk to Barrendo, at this point the most likely author of the note. Chapter 8: Barrendo Gives His Version Biggles next has an interview with Barrendo which leaves him very surprised. Barrendo, candidly and unprompted, reveals that he was in London and had bid against Pallimo. He knew the statue was of Atu-hua, but he doesn't believe in native superstitions. He had boarded the Caravana with O'higgins but had stepped off at Buenos Aires to see a dying relative. What's more he reveals that Pallimo had told him that Biggles was in Santiago. Barrendo strikes Biggles as truthful, contrary to what Pallimo and Thurburn had led im to expect. Stepping into their taxi outside, someone in the bushes takes a shot at Biggles and Algy. Someone doesn't want them around, but who? Chapter 9: Dangerous Flying Biggles and Algy spend three days flying search patterns over the Andes. The third day, Algy spots someone waving to them from the edge of a long narrow plateau. Biggles doesn't want to risk a landing but Algy convinces him to let him drop by parachute with some food. He would prepare the landing ground and then signal Biggles in. Biggles lands safely and Algy tells him what he's found: it's a girl in a stewardess uniform. Chapter 10: Astonishing News The stewardess is Conchita Gonzales from the missing Caravana. She tells them her aircraft had been brought down by a bomb. The crew of four all managed to get out of the wreck. The captain and first officer decided to go and get help. Pepe, the navigator, was injured, so Conchita stayed with him. A few days ago, he said he was going to find food and had not returned. Then a party of Indians had come to the crash site and had taken away anything removable. As for O'Higgins? Conchita gives Biggles another shock: he had stepped of the plane as Los Lobitos, the last refuelling stop before Santiago! Chapter 11: The Crash The next morning, Biggles, Algy and Conchita make their way to the crash site. There are signs of an explosion but no sign of Atu-hua. The luggage compartment had been looted. They decide to go back to their Merlin. They are making the difficult climb back up to the plateau when they hear Indians approaching the crash site chanting and singing. They are led by a witch-doctor who is holding Atu-hua on a pole! Chapter 12: Disturbing Events Back on the plateau, Biggles and Algy are dismayed to see that they are grounded because of fog. They see smoke from the crash site. The Indians appear to be celebrating and have lit a fire! Suddenly there is a large explosion. The fuel in the tank of the aircraft must have exploded! Biggles rushes to the scene. He finds a few dead bodies around and then ... Atu-hua abandoned on the ground. There is someone moving. It's Pepe the navigator, burnt but not severely injured. Biggles helps him back to the Merlin, picking up Atu-hua at the same time. Chapter 13: Revelations Pepe tells his story. He had gone to look for food and been captured by the Indians who intended to sacrifice him by burning him on a fire at the crash site. To add to the surprises for Biggles, Pepe now says O'Higgins, as he left the plane, had asked him to help carry a parcel to Santiago. It made a ticking sound. O'Higgins said it was only a clock but now Pepe thinks it might have been the bomb. There's more trouble now: they can hear the Indians approaching and the Merlin is still grounded by fog. Chapter 14: Biggles Takes a Chance Biggles meets the party of Indians at the edge of the plateau. Afrer staring at each other silently, Biggles tells them to go. They do not seem to understand. Then he takes a chance and shouts, "Atu-Hua". They show no sign of recognition. Finally he fires a shot over their heads. They flee in pandemonium. Chapter 15: A Stranger Intervenes Late in the night, there's another surprise. A stranger approaches the aircraft. He is Estiban Huerta, a Chilean prospector. He tells Biggles he had just escaped from the Indians. He had been employed by Pallimo to tour the Indian tribes to dispel rumuors that Atu-Hua was coming back. Then the Caravana had crashed and this Indian tribe had found the statue. For some reason, the witch-doctor recognised immediately that the statue was a fake! The tribe became angry and accused Huerta of lying to them. They turned on him and tied him up but he had escaped. Chapter 16: A Take-off to Remember Continuing with his story, Huerta tells Biggles that he thinks O'Higgins is the one who would be interested in spreading rumours about Atu-Hua coming back. He was always interested in Indian affairs and has "a bee in the bonnet" about the original inhabitants of the country. As for where the real Atu-Hua is, he thinks Pallimo has it with him. Drawing these threads together, Biggles forms a hypothesis about what has happened. Pallimo bought Atu-Hua and had a copy made. He sends the fake via O'Higgins. Barrendo, who had an interest in the statue, also booked a seat on board the plane. When they discovered it was a fake, Barrendo left the plane at Buenos Aires. O'Higgins decided to plant a bomb on the plane (Johns does not explain how he managed to get a bomb at such short notice). Biggles does not understand his motive for doing this but it could be to prevent Pallimo from making an insurance claim--once he made a claim, he could never show the real one without incriminating himself. Dawn is breaking and the fog is lifting slightly but now comes more trouble. A large party of Indians have made it onto the plateau. This time they are armed with spears and are getting close. Biggles performs a hasty take-off, heading into the mist which still shrouds the far end of the plateau. Part way through the take off run, the wheel strikes a rock and the plane swerves to one side and plunges down the gully on the side of the plateau. Biggles throttles back to prepare for the end but the aircraft picks up speed and the nose lifts and they are soon climbing out of danger. Chapter 17: Biggles Plays His Last Card Back in Santiago, Biggles confronts Pallimo with his theory. Pallimo does not deny it but asks what Biggles wants. Biggles asks him to sign a note stating that his statue had been found and renouncing all claim for compensation. If he refuses, the fake statue would go to London as evidence of his fraud. Pallimo offers one last explanation and apology: "I acted for the best. I employ a great many Indians and would not like to see them induced to cause trouble to suit someone's political aspirations." Armed with Pallimo's note, Biggles and Algy leave for home. The case is closed. Not that Biggles understood what went on. As he would tell Algy later, he could never make much sense of foreign politics anyway. Category:Plot summaries